


The Healer

by CuriosityRedux



Series: Dragon Drabbles Berk [37]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Healer Ruffnut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-30 00:03:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16754020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuriosityRedux/pseuds/CuriosityRedux
Summary: Ruff spends her days up in Gothi's place.





	The Healer

**The Healer**

**-**

Hiccup had gotten used to knocking on Gothi’s door at all hours of the day and night. It became more frequent after the addition of wings to his flight suit— he was too stubborn to let Astrid see injuries caused by what she called, “The Harebrained Invention from Hel.” Though, that didn’t stop her from rolling her eyes and sighing when she saw the bandages the next day. Somehow she always knew. 

So barely knocking before entering Gothi’s house wasn’t unusual. Finding Ruffnut instead of the village elder, however, was. 

“The old bat’s not here,” she announced flatly without looking up from a table of various weeds. 

“Ruff?” Holding the scrap of cloth he’d rummaged up to the cut on his forehead, Hiccup furrowed his brow. “What are you doing up here?”

“Makin’ an itching powder for my brother.” She leaned over and squinted at a crumpled piece of paper. 

He was perplexed. And bleeding. Looking over his shoulder and around the main room, Hiccup almost expected Gothi to pop out and scribble “Surprise!” Still, he shut the door behind him and stepped closer to the table. 

“Does Gothi know you’re here?” There was a small bowl and a mortar and pestle at her elbow, he now noticed, and he watched as she picked out some unfamiliar herb and ripped it to tiny pieces. 

“She left me in charge while she’s on her date.”

He wasn’t sure if she was serious. For a moment, he only stood there in awkward, hesitant observation, but then she finally looked up at him. Upon seeing the cloth pressed to his face and the smeared blood on his skin, Ruffnut sighed and rolled her eyes. 

“So I haven’t gotten the gliding thing down pat,” he admitted in explanation. “It’ll come with practice.”

She didn’t comment. Pushing back from the table, she crossed the room and grabbed a flask from Gothi’s cabinet of concoctions. Hiccup recognized it as the mysterious alcohol the old woman kept for patients to drink during painful procedures. He’d had more than his share of swigs. As he hesitantly uncapped it and took a burning sip, he watched Ruffnut collect an armful of supplies from a drawer. 

“Are— are you stitching me up, then?” Hiccup took a seat at the table, eyeing the door apprehensively. Part of him wanted to bolt away while her back was still turned, but the gash just below his hairline  _did_ need tending to. And Ruff  _did_  seem to know what she was doing.

“I started coming up here to avoid Snotlout and Fishlegs,” she began, setting down a number of tools on the table. As she explained, she moved to the kitchen, where Hiccup knew Gothi kept a pot of water boiling at all times. “They’d never look here ‘cause it’s so out of the way, and I liked watching the blood and stuff." 

"So, you’ve been apprenticing with her?” He was surprised at how impressed he suddenly felt. 

Ruffnut reappeared, coming to stand in front of him. He took another draw from the flask, and she pulled the cloth from his face none too gently. “Something like that. Mostly I mess around on my own.” Hiccup averted his eyes when he saw her threading a needle. “I figure if I do something that stupid, she’ll stop me.”

She took a step forward. While her hands came to rest on his face, she leaned over him and narrowed her gaze in focus. Hiccup let his eyes close, not wanting to see the needle in her hand or the neckline of her dress while it was so close. Her movements were kind of rough, obviously not as smooth as Gothi’s, but her fingers were soft on his forehead. They felt strangely maternal, despite her brusque manner. 

“That’s… really kind of cool.” Hiccup studied the flask with his fingers, trying not to wince when the needle pierced his skin or Ruff tugged a little too hard. She smelled like the girly oils Astrid used. That helped.

“Eh. I’m in it for the gore.”

Hiccup peeked one eye open, examining her expression of concentration. “Ruff, you  _have_  done this before, right?”

“Nope.”

“Oh. Okay then.”


End file.
